In the mid 1970s, Steve Ball of San Diego, California designed and built this unique 21′ boat and powered it with a Fiat engine to compete in the 850-cc hydro class. They went on to set a World Straightaway Speed Record in 1975 averaging 101.47 mph through the trap. More …
Bullet Bob Schroeder returning to the pits in U-54 Wildroot Charlie. The white boat in the foreground is my Uncle Ray DeGlopper in his Eby & DeGlopper Marine dealership committee boat. Bill DeGlopper
Four different hydroplane builders pulled a few fiberglass inboard hydros out of their molds back in the day. Click to see/read the story. Perhaps this could have been a neat way to start a stock or modified class that would have been very competitive if you had a field of …
APBA rules did not allow any apparatus (like an extended cowling) that could be simply bolted on the boat to meet the legal class minimum boat lengths (LOA) required. A boat or two tried that and it was soon outlawed so the wood hulls were cut and modified so they …
Story of Marion Cooper and Jim Davis and some of the hydros that they both campaigned under their ownership as HORNET.
In the 1950s, Mitch ‘Doc J’ and Mitch Jabczenski, Sr. were Chiropractors in the Detroit area and were very active in hydroplane racing. The father and son team purchased two hydros: a 266 class Lauterbach (photo above) and the other hydro was a Les Stadaucher built 266 hull, using Ted …
